Unemployment is still likely to rise this year, due to lacklustre economic growth and increasing job losses in the public sector. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit fell last month, as the total out of work inched back below the 2.5 million mark.

The claimant count dropped by 4,100 people in December to 1.46 million, the Office for National Statistics reported. The ONS also revised November's claimant count figure to show a 3,200 decline.

City economists has expected the claimant count to be broadly flat in December, as hiring by private companies was countered by the government's cuts to public spending.

However, the number of people who have been claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for up to six months increased by 7,200 to reach 960,300.

Ross Walker of RBS warned that employment showed little signs of recovery, a year after Britain officially emerged from recession.

And Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight cautioned that unemployment is still likely to rise this year, due to lacklustre economic growth and increasing job losses in the public sector.

The wider unemployment count, the ILO measure, showed that 49,000 people lost their jobs in the three months to November. That put the unemployment rate at 7.9%, up from 7.7% in the preceding quarter. The total number of people out of work came in at 2.498m, down from the 2.502m hit last month, but higher than the 2.448m over the June-August period.

There were also signs that many people would like to work more than they are able to. The ONS reported that the number of employees and self-employed people who were working part-time because they could not find a full-time job increased by 26,000 in the three months to November, to 1.16 million. This is the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992.